Chennai: The United Kingdom's Littoral Response Group (LRG) arrived in Chennai on Tuesday as the first engagement of its deployment to the Indian Ocean region, the British High Commission informed in a statement.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Argus and RFA Lyme Bay conducted maritime exercises with the Indian Navy as they entered the Arabian Sea. It will now undergo essential maintenance at the Larsen and Toubro shipyard in Kattupalli near Chennai.

This is the first time a Royal Navy vessel will undergo maintenance at an Indian shipyard - a direct result of the logistics-sharing agreement signed between the UK and India in 2022.

Brigadier Nick Sawyer, Defence Advisor, British High Commission, said: "The visit of the Littoral Response Group attests to the UK's capability and commitment to the Indo-Pacific. The sight of Royal Navy ships undergoing essential maintenance at an Indian shipyard is yet another example of the India-UK Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement in practice."

"It also signals the continued growing importance of the strategic defence partnership between the UK and India as we build towards achieving the ambition set out in the India-UK 2030 Roadmap," he added.

Following the completion of its maintenance in India, the Littoral Response Group will operate in the Indo-Pacific to conduct training, exercises, and wider engagement with allies and partners.

Earlier, during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's UK visit, India and UK agreed that the latter would send its naval groups-- Littoral Response Group and Carrier Strike Group -- to the Indian Ocean Region, in addition to holding multiple joint military exercises and expanding defence cooperation with India.

Notably, this was the first visit of an Indian Defence Minister to the UK in more than 20 years.

In the coming years, the UK and India will also embark on more complex exercises between their respective militaries, building up to a landmark joint exercise to be conducted before the end of 2030, supporting shared goals of protecting critical trade routes and upholding the international rules-based system, the UK government informed in a release.

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